Tides, a nonprofit organization working for a mildly saner world, is about to start a big shindig called Momentum up in San Francisco. Buncha people sharing ideas on how to do good.

The guest list includes former VP candidate John Edwards; Alex Gibney, the documentary filmmaker behind Taxi to the Dark Side and No End in Sight; Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain: the Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation (and the sooner we all realize that our decision-making is almost always emotional, the less likely we are to all kill each other, so that’s good); Premal Shah, president of Kiva, a cool microlender I’ve been meaning to pimp for some time; and tons of other people who do neat stuff.

Momentum is described in the literature as where leading progressives “come together to challenge, inspire, and rejuvenate each other.” This sounds like it involves elixirs and swordfights, but I think it’s mostly just people in suits, talking. Still, if the ideas are good, it might be just as cool.

My sciatica defies all rejuvenating, but I’ll be attending as media. Any nifty challenging or inspiring going on, I’ll mention it here.

Particularly hoping to snag a chat with the Kiva dude. (Seriously, check out Kiva. You lend a teeny amount of money — not donate; lend, like $25 or something, and with a repayment delinquency rate near zero, so you get it back — and people in the developing world get better lives. Possibly a lot better. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to one of the idea’s pioneers. It works. So Kiva up if you’re in the mood.)

More good ideas to come shortly, I hope.